Behavioral and Social Sciences Section Perspective

Causality in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

This paper aims to acquaint researchers in the quantitative social and behavior sciences with recent advances in causal inference which provide a systematic methodology for defining, estimating, testing, and defending causal claims in experimental and observational studies. These advances are illustrated using a general theory of causation based on nonparametric structural equation models (SEM)...

Functional Equations in Behavioral and Social Sciences

Theories in the behavioral, social, and natural sciences are often formalized by equations involving unknown functions, i.e., by functional equations. For instance, a theorist may be reluctant tomake specific assumptions regarding the form of functions involved in a mathematical model, but the qualitative formulation of the model itself may impose constraints on the initially unknown functions....

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences

A Philosopher’s Perspective on the Social Sciences

Conceptualizing reproductive loss: a social sciences perspective.

This paper defines and explores reproductive loss and, drawing on a social sciences perspective, reflects on the lack of attention that has been given to the subject within the study of human fertility. The authors argue that whilst reproductive loss (broadly defined) is exceptionally common, scholars have - with some exceptions - focused on the study of reproductive 'success', and continue to ...